Sunday, May 28, 2006

Despite various interruptions, I'm continuing to make progress. I just need to run a wire to the subpanel and put down the shower liner, and I'm ready for the next inspection.

The most recent task was connecting the new DWV (drain waste vent, aka sewer) pipes to the existing ones. The new ones are ABS plastic, but the existing ones are cast-iron pipe. A quick attempt with the Sawzall revealed that wasn't going to work to cut the cast-iron pipe, so I rented a snap cutter that's designed for it. I'd never used one before, but it turned out to be very easy. Put the chain around the pipe, tighten a little and score the surface, then tighten the rest of the way and *snap*. It took me less than 5 minutes for the two cuts needed, significantly less than the time to and from the rental place. And it wasn't even a stinky job.

And even though I sweated around 25 joints for the plumbing (mostly for the shower, since it has extra bends to go around the higher foundation at the side of the addition) with no problems, I don't think I'll be running out to become a plumber any time soon. Too many of the tasks that go with the job are stinky, even if the pay is good.

Barring an unusual number of interruptions, I'll get the next inspection this week. After that it's insulation, drywall, flooring, trim, paint and I'm done! OK, so that's still a lot of work. And when I finish that I get to start on the kitchen...ah, well. One step at a time.

Monday, May 15, 2006

I'm finally over my cold, and back at work on the house. Today I placed the cement for the shower floor. Getting cement level and smooth is fairly easy. Getting it not level so the water flows down the drain from everywhere is a little harder. I checked the slope a little while ago now that the cement is hard enough to put a level on, and it looks good...down towards the drain from all sides. Huzzah!

I also installed a coax cable for cable TV (not that we have cable...or even watch that much broadcast TV, but it's easier to run a cable now than later) and connected another of the runs to the new electrical sub-panel. Both of those required crawling under the addition to pull the wires. It's at this time that I wish we'd dug out more from under the addition so crawling under was easier. Of course, there were good reasons not to besides the labor involved, but I can still wish.

And just because it was easy and didn't require much crawling under the house, I cut a hole for the vent and hooked up the heating duct. It's still not connected to the furnace on the other end, but fortunately it appears that winter has finally left us, so I won't be needing that any time soon. Huzzah, indeed.